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Kalistani News in Brief: Princess Nicolette returns from Egelion
ISCA sends new satellites into orbit; Art Rock Returns to the Charts
Kaliburg, Grand Duchy of Ananto
July 20, 5708


Kaliburg Artist Thomas Jones brings weirdness back to the Top 40

Princess Nicolette Returns from Egelion
Her Highness, Princess of the Empire Nicolette Ananto-Collins returned to Luxon from her extended sojourn in Altea Egelion where she represented the Empire of Ananto and Kalistan to the Eastern Terra Cooperation Conference. "They are nearly done there," said the Princess in a brief press conference at Kaliburg International Airport in Port Davon. "We have agreed upon a number of very important topics. However, we are certain there was not a spirit for any sort of formal integration expressed there, with all three Seleyans stressing explicitly that economic integration was not on the table."

The Princess stated that an important agreement over military communication and intelligence sharing was reached. "I believe the spirit of the conference was achieved during our discussions, and we got agreements that we all could live with," said Her Highness. "Collective security was nixed early in principle: Given some of the other developments in the world, the Northern Seleyan and Kerisian states widely steered away from anything that looks like a solid military alliance or an international organization, where any of us sacrifices our own sovereignty to that of a much larger whole. Instead, we developed protocols by which we can all see our own interests in the security of the entire region, and have an incentive to help and assist one another to prevent foreign incursion into our region. It forms the foundation for trust and further, bilateral, trilateral, or multilateral cooperation on specific projects in the future because it helps us all reduce insecurity amongst ourselves."

The Princess said that all that was left would be a signing, which Her Imperial Majesty Empress Carolina II Ananto would likely prefer to do herself. "The negotiation parts are done. There are still some discussions which may happen around cultural exchange, and the Marquess Lady Marisol Paz Alvarez-Navarro will remain in Egelion to tie up any loose ends as Kalistan's representative." She also said Her Imperial Majesty has charged Lady Alvarez to approach the Nadiyans to propose an initial meeting concerning the longstanding coldness between our two nations. "I personally did not have orders to speak with the Nadiyans on any level, but at the very end when I was recalled, Her Imperial Majesty issues those instructions to Marisol Paz, who will propose a bilateral meeting between Kalistan and Trigunia/Nadiya with the aim of just talking and seeing if there is any interest in either side in building a new relationship between our two nations. I don't want to prejudge the discussions which have not happened yet."

ISCA sends new satellites into Orbit
The final three Geosynchronous satellites entered upper Terran Orbit this week, to complete the Observation Network for IBSI. The satellites will aim their cameras at Southern and Central Majatra, southern Seleya and central Dovani. Robotic probes also performed maintenance on one satellite which was malfunctioning and was slowly moving out of position over Keris and Northern Seleya.

"These launches have been scheduled for years, but we also sent the robots up because the Kerisian satellite has not been sending pictures of the northern continent back to us in Spencer," said ISCA director Diane Cammron. "We think a piece of space junk or some kind of rock or something hit it, and at that speed, it caused a bit of damage and changed the orientation of the cameras. We sent the robotic probe up to rendezvous with the satellite to see if it could be fixed, and it turns out, it just needed to be turned around and the power supply, which had been damaged, needed to be replaced, which we were able to do remotely."

In addition to the defense intelligence satellites, three new communications satellites were launched to not only increase Kalistani microwave transmission capabilities, but also to increase the range of Kalistani telecomm. "The KRTVN satellites were the most important ones from a commercial perspective," said Cammron. "With these satellites, KRTVN can be received in eastern Dovani by those with satellite receivers. Kalistan already broadcasts globally, but there are several locations that KRTVN wasn't available, and these telecomm satellites help fill in the gaps in the network."

Art Rock returns to the Charts
The Kaliburg Art scene has been bubbling under the mainstream since it broke out of small independent clubs almost thirty years and hit the top of the charts in the mid 5680s. To date, nobody has matched the success of Kaliburg's Anne Jean, who reached the height of her fame in 5686 with her album Absentee, either in terms of sales or in terms of creativity and music has mostly returned to alternative since then. But Art-Glam musician Thomas Jones, of Kaliburg has shown that art rock both still exists and is commercially viable.

His debut record, recorded for KMI is called The Duke of Kaliburg, and features a heavily colorized photo of the musician in KMI studios in downtown Kaliburg. The album entered the charts at number 26, making it the first art rock album to make it into the Top 40 on the KRTVN Radio 1 Albums Chart in over 20 years. The lead single, "The Taste was Not So Sweet" is a heavily orchestrated R&B inspired Art pop, almost a baroque pop song that discusses social and personal dynamism. Other songs on the album are more blues inspired, but one song, "Cavemen," which is a song not destined to be released as a single, according to KMI, is nonetheless a swaggering Glam Rock tune art tune that showcases Jones' musical composition abilities.

The album has already attracted a very loyal following among art rockers, and for many music listeners of this generation, Jones' record is their first introduction to art rock. "The Taste was not so Sweet" is already in heavy rotation on KRTVN Radio 1, and is expected to debut in the Top 20 on the Top 40 Countdown this weekend. Jones, for his part is preparing to tour in support of the record and will spend time in Sulari, Port Swedes and Eshar before making his way back to Kaliburg, where he will will play some of his largest shows to date.

[Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ft3b1-Cm-0M]
Check out the promotional video for "Cavemen" from Thomas Jones' KMI debut The Duke of Kaliburg right here

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